Disclaimer: I wish I owned Harry Potter. But then again, if I owned it, Harry Potter would be the worst series ever. **sigh** Well, I don't really wish I owned Naruto, but whatever. I don't own Naruto either. There we go. Happy?
And in answer to one person's question-no, they can't use their jutsu (so I guess they aren't ninja but WHATEVER, I'm still calling them ninja and stuff-this jutsu/ninja/chakra crap always confuses me…I fail at life :D.) and this is set during Shippuden I guess, because Neji's 16 and the other two are 15. Not totally positive, I kinda skimmed the Shippuden part of the manga and forgot to read like two (…or three…or four…) arcs or something…I'm a terrible person.
Hagrid led them across the school's expansive grounds to the towering castle itself. The half giant was merrily chattering away about something-or-other, gleeful expression on his face. Neither Neji or Ino were paying attention-Ino kept throwing wary glances back at that creepy forest (which Hagrid said was called the Forbidden Forest and warned them that they should never go in), while Neji was busy studying their surroundings, taking in everything as best he could. Kiba, on the other hand, was listening to Hagrid's words as though they were from God himself, deeply immersed in conversation with Hagrid because it was about magical creatures-and God knows Kiba loved animals.
Hagrid strode up to the tall, intimidating doors of the castle, banging on them with one thick fist. Moments later, light spilled across the dark grounds as they were yanked open by a rather irritated, greasy-haired man with a large, hooked nose.
"What is it Hagrid?" he asked monotonously, tone void of any emotion whatsoever. Kiba noted that he seemed to be even more emotionless than Shino.
"I need t' speak t' Dumbledore. It's urgent." The man seemed to sneer at this, peering behind Hagrid to gaze coldly at the three Kohona nin standing awkwardly behind.
"…I suppose it's about them." he stated. Before Hagrid could reply, he took a step back, opening the door wider for the half-giant. "Well? Hurry up."
They stepped over the threshold, following Hagrid as he beckoned them down the hall. The greasy-haired man quickly shut the doors and left, disappearing down a dark corridor, gone by the time Neji looked back.
As they walked, the three shinobi couldn't help but be awestruck at the sights that befell them: portraits that moved and spoke as though they were living humans; staircases that had changed position; a ceiling that was an exact replica of the sky. It was all so astonishing, breathtaking…magical. Hogwarts, in their minds, held up to its name as a school of magic.
"Hagrid," Neji called, "How much farther until we reach 'Professor Dumbledore'?"
"Not too far." He replied. "Just beyond this corridor-"
"Now what have we here?" came a voice behind the group. The shinobi spun around, ready to attack, only to find a site that made them all freeze, totally stunned.
"Is-is that…" stuttered Ino, eyes wide as saucers.
"A ghost?" Neji finished, equally surprised. If only he could use his Byakuugan…Kiba was gaping at the floating apparition like a fish out of water.
Hagrid barked out an uproarious guffaw at their reactions, while the ghost looked absolutely appalled.
"How rude, staring like that," he snapped coldly. "Think they'd never seen a ghost!" With that, he disappeared. Well, not quite. First he flew through Neji, leaving the poor teen gasping and shivering as though he had been dunked in icy water. Then, he vanished through a wall.
"Ah, sorry about that." Hagrid said gruffly, smiling lightly. "That there was a ghost, as you guessed. More specifically, the Bloody Baron, Ghost of Slytherin." He glanced over at Neji, who was still shivering. "Don't worry, that feeling will wear off soon." He was met with two blank stares from Ino and Kiba, who didn't understand why the Branch was acting like he was cold.
"When a ghost goes through some'un," Hagrid explained, "they feel…well, I guess you could say cold. Isn't that right, Neji?" The smile on Hagrid's face seemed to widen a fraction as he said the last sentence. The Hyuga just nodded.
Ino smirked, leaning over to hiss something into Neji's ear. "Karma for getting us stuck here!" she practically sang. Neji glared.
"Now where were we? Oh yeah!" Hagrid started forward again. "Come along, we're almost there!"
True to his words, after rounding a corridor they came to a stop before a large and rather hideous stone gargoyle. The three, once more, stared in confusion. One made to say something, but Hagrid cut them off with his booming voice.
"Wait…" Glancing around secretively, Hagrid leaned in and whispered something to the gargoyle. The three watched on and would've thought he was insane, had they not toured through the rest of the physics-breaking castle. It wouldn't surprise them if the gargoyle suddenly came alive. They were close.
As soon as Hagrid said whatever he said to the stone, it sprang to life, pulling back to reveal that it had been guarding a hidden staircase leading up to what Neji supposed to be the Professor's office.
Sure enough, at the top of the stairs was a door leading to-as revealed by Hagrid-the Headmaster's office.
Hagrid rapped on the door, immediately answered with an "Enter!".
Hagrid pushed open the door, exposing the wide, circular room within. There were many windows and portraits, and a very impressive collection of books filled the office from floor to ceiling. Set on a number of spindly tables spread throughout the room were delicate silver instruments, whirring and emitting puffs of smoke.
At a large desk in the room, beside a magnificent red bird, was a kindly old man, tall and thin with an incredibly long silver beard and crooked nose upon which a pair of half-moon spectacles rested. But most extraordinary were his eyes, a brilliant shade of blue that seemed to twinkle as they fell upon the three nin.
"Now what have we here?" he asked, motioning for the trio standing awkwardly behind Hagrid to enter further into the room.
"Ah, found 'em wanderin' around outside." Hagrid replied. "They said they'd jus' woken up in the Forbidden Forest an' had no idea where they were."
Dumbledore nodded. "Well," he said, "Thank you Hagrid. Now if you wouldn't mind, could you please step out and find Minerva while I speak to these three?"
"Of course!" Hagrid thundered before turning to leave. Dumbledore smiled warmly at the three, eyes still twinkling.
"Now why don't you tell me your names?"
Neji stepped forward first. "Hyuga Neji." he announced with a bow.
"Yamanaka Ino, pleased to meat you."
"Inuzuka Kiba." Kiba and Ino, like Neji before them, also bowed in respect.
Dumbledore beamed at them. "And I am Professor Dumbledore-also pleased to meet you," he said with a little wink in Ino's direction. She shot a grin back. "Well then, now that that's out of the way, I understand that you don't know why you are here, but perhaps you could elaborate on your story?"
"Of course," Neji replied before launching into their story of what had occurred before they'd wound up in the headmaster's office-Dumbledore occasionally breaking in with a question about jutsu or shinobi, or other such terms he'd never heard of before.
"I see…" he murmured once Neji had reached his conclusion, blue eyes clouded in thought. "While I'm sorry to say that I can't tell you the reasons for why you are here, I'm also sorry to say that we will also be unable to send you back to whatever dimension you are from because, as of yet, there is no such spell or such that covers the ability to travel throughout different dimensions."
Distressed looks painted themselves on the three shinobi's faces. Kiba opened his mouth to say something, but was quieted by Dumbledore's silencing hand. The headmaster continued. "However, I will report your case to the Ministry and work my best to find a solution to your predicament. Until then, though, I have an offer that you may want to consider."
"Yes, Professor?" asked Neji. He looked calm but was secretly just worried as his companions.
"Until we are able to find a way to solve your problem, I was thinking that perhaps in the meantime, you three would like to stay at the castle and possibly train yourselves in the art of magic." he explained, glancing each ninja over. "I found that the three of you seem to possess strong…I suppose, a strong magical ability. Perhaps it is the same in all 'ninja', perhaps it is tied into your 'chakra', I'm not sure, but I think it best if you take up my offer so as to be able to control your magic."
Neji paused, looking to the other two. "I'd gladly take up your offer, so long as my team also wishes to."
"Totally," Ino immediately said, passion fueling her words, "It sounds like the smartest thing to do, so, like, why wouldn't we?"
"'Sides," continued Kiba, "It's not like we have anything else to do."
"So it's settled." responded Dumbledore, stroking his beard as he stood and strode around to stand in front of his desk. "You three will attend Hogwarts as…'transfer students' this coming fall while we figure out your case." he paused. "Actually, that may not be possible. To enroll, you'd need to fit in our age limits. How old are you three?"
"I'm sixteen. Ino and Kiba are fifteen."
Dumbledore nodded again. "Good, that means you do all fall under years here. We'll try to teach you what your classmates have learned as much as possible…although not as in depth. I do know some spells that should be able to cram some of this into your head without actually teaching you…" he was talking to himself now, pacing in front of his desk. Suddenly he stopped, clapping his hands together. "But that's beside the point! Now that I think about it, there's another little favor I'd like to ask of you."
"Shoot." answered Kiba, earning a questioning raise of an eyebrow from the elder man.
"He means go on." explained Ino, smacking Kiba across the head. Dumbledore smiled cheerfully.
"Ah, of course." His face became suddenly serious. "What I have to ask of you, however, is a rather serious matter. From what I can tell, your world has 'dark forces' as does ours. There's one force in particular, though, that was supposedly extinguished, only to reappear again. His name is 'Lord Voldemort'."
With that, Dumbledore began explaining Lord Voldemort, his rise to power, his disappearance, and what had occurred this year at the Triwizard Tournament. "As you can see, he's a rather sinister man that spells trouble for all of us."
"He sounds like it," agreed Neji, "But what does that have to do with us?"
"The Ministry of Magic, sadly, does not believe that he's reappeared. As such, they aren't taking precaution against a possible attack Voldemort may chose to initiate. I'm worried that he and his followers may chose to attack Hogwarts. Also, as I explained, Harry Potter is a student of ours that Voldemort is targeting. I was wondering that if during your stay here you three could keep an eye on him; make sure that nothing too suspicious is occurring around him-or anyone else-that could possibly be the work of Voldemort." Dumbledore's eyes flickered over to Ino and Kiba. "Especially you two, seeing as you both are in the same year as him and such."
The three immediately agreed to watch out for any possible signs of Voldemort. "It's the least we could do for you, seeing as you're doing so much for us," was Neji's response.
"Thank you." A knock sounded on the door. "And it seems that the Professor I called for just arrived. Enter!"
The door was pushed open to reveal a tall, black haired woman in emerald robes, eyes staring down at them through her square spectacles. Her expression was strict, making the trio reminisce their Academy days with Iruka-sensei. Kiba trembled at the thought; this was most certainly a woman he did not want to get on the bad side of.
"Minerva, may I introduce you to our new transfer students, Mr. Hyuga, Miss Yamanaka, and Mr. Inuzuka." he announced with a flourish of his hand, winking at the witch when he said 'transfer students'. The Professor seemed to shoot Dumbledore an 'oh-god-what-did-you-do-this-time' kind of look. "And students, may I introduce you to Professor Minerva McGonagall, our lovely Professor of Transfiguration, Head of Gryffindor, and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts." His blue eyes were twinkling once again.
Neji and co. bowed to the Professor, uttering different forms of "Pleased to meet you." The Professor responded by nodding curtly and responding with an "As am I."
"With introductions out of the way, could you three step out of the room for a second so I could speak with Professor McGonagall?" asked Dumbledore. Of course, they exited the room, standing just as awkwardly outside as they had in the office when they'd first stepped in.
Ino slid down a wall into a sitting position, glowering pointedly at Neji. "'Bet they're talking about us and how badly we messed up because of you Neji." Neji rolled his eyes (or at least they assumed he did-it was hard to tell what with the iris-less white eyes) and rubbed his temples, clearly annoyed. "Think we should listen in on their conversation?" she asked.
Kiba shuddered, crouched on the floor and practically rocking himself in fear. "I wouldn't do that," he whispered, "That woman looked like Iruka…she scares me."
Face-palms all around at Kiba's words. "Kiba…you were never scared of Iruka," Ino started out slowly, "You liked to piss Iruka off whenever you could. You weren't scared of him. Why're you scared of this lady?"
Kiba rolled his eyes as though it was obvious. "She has magic. We have no chakra. I'm pretty sure you can kill someone with magic-'fact they prolly have a killing-curse-thing. We can't defend ourselves or run away 'cause we're in some magical land in a different dimension."
Ino stopped and stared, horror-stricken. "You're right…"
Neji wondered why he'd had to get stuck with such a stupid team. At least on Team Gai there was another voice of reason besides himself…although now that he thought about it, it'd probably be worse if he were with Gai and Lee, seeing as they were so frickin' energetically dramatic…
The group lapsed into silence, each wallowing in their own thoughts until Professor McGonagall finally poked her head out of the door and called them back in. When they re-entered the room, there was something off. For in the center of the room, perched upon a stool, was a tattered old hat, worn and frayed with age.
Ino blinked and stared at it. "…what's with the hat?"
"That's what we were getting too." stated the deputy, crossing over to stand beside the ragged hat. "To be a student at this school, you have to belong to one of our four Houses."
"Houses?" echoed Neji.
"Yes. There are four of Houses-Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House values different traits in a person. Hufflepuff, for instance, values hard work, patience, loyalty, and fair play. Gryffindor is a house for the brave, loyal, bold, and chivalrous. Ravenclaw values intelligence, knowledge, and wit. And lastly, members of Slytherin display ambition, cunning, and resourcefulness." she explained. Gesturing towards the hat, she continued.
"This hat is the 'Sorting Hat'. By judging your qualities and whatnot, it determines which House you belong to once I place it upon your head. Seeing as you three are entering our school so late, Albus and I are just going to sort you into your House now and announce it at the beginning of the school year after new students are sorted. Get it over with now, as they say."
"A hat," Kiba snorted, "with a brain? That's crazy!" Although he wasn't so sure, seeing as the portraits could talk and move…
Almost immediately, the hat burst into a fit of rage. "I'll have you know," it huffed, "that I'm no ordinary hat! I'm the smartest hat you'll ever meet, I'll tell you that!"
Kiba shrieked like a little girl, jumping in surprise. "Y-yes, Mr. Hat sir!" he squealed. Ino sniggered.
"So Mr. Hat, you're going to sort us into different these 'houses', right?" she asked, turning to stare at the Sorting Hat.
"Indeed I am."
"Cool." she replied, grinning from ear-to-ear. "When do we start?"
"Now if you'd like," beamed Dumbledore. "Miss Yamanaka, would you like to go first?"
"I dunno…I think Kiba would though."
"W-what? No! Nononononononoononononono. Don't leave me alone with the scary hat!" he whimpered, cowering behind Ino. "Please?"
"Oh just go, you big baby." the hat shot back as Minerva picked it off the seat, it's seam-mouth seemingly twisted into an evil little smirk.
Kiba approached the hat shakily, nervously sitting on the stool. Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head. It was a little too big, however, and slid down past his eyes.
So, the hat spoke in his mind, you displayed quite a bit of boldness back there. Gryffindor guts, eh? Although being scared of me certainly doesn't help…
Ummm…Kiba replied, I'm not scared of you…just a little freaked. Where I'm from, hats don't act all freaky and start talking to people…
Uh-huh, sure dog boy. Now let's see…hmmm, despite your little act back there, you seem to be pretty dang brave, and rather loyal. We could say "loyal as a dog", eh? The hat chuckled a little at its corny joke. Anyways, there's only one place for a bold, gutsy dog, and that place is…
"GRYFFINDOR!" bellowed the hat. Professor McGonagall lifted the hat off of Kiba's head. Kiba smiled up at the older witch.
"Sooo…I guess that means I'm in your House, huh?"
Minerva pursed her lips and nearly kicked him out of his seat-albeit in a polite, school appropriate way, but that's beside the point.
Ino went up next, sliding into her chair with a small smile on her face. The hat was set upon her blonde head-although it didn't slide down because of her high ponytail.
Hmmmm, let's see here. Competitive aren't you? Really aren't going to let pinky win that guy with the duck hair…Sasuke, right?
Ino blushed. Wha-how'd you know about that?
I can read your mind. Shush. Ok…ambitious too...and you're hiding your cunning mind. You've got plenty of potential to be a rather cunning little lady. Well I think it's obvious, now isn't it? You're obviously a little…
"SLYTHERIN!" rang out through the room. Ino's eyes, which she had shut throughout the sorting, popped open.
"Huh," she said. "Well, I just learned things about myself I never knew before."
"Indeed, the Sorting Hat does that to you." responded a certain twinkly-eyed headmaster.
Last but not least, Neji approached the hat, looking as cool and emotionless as ever. The hat, like with Kiba, slipped past his eyes, but unlike Kiba and Ino, he kept them open.
Open eyes, eh? That's pretty unusual, but from what I can see here, you really like your eyes, don't you?
Yes, Neji replied, they're vital in both battle and in my clan.
I can tell. Seems you're from a real 'pure' family. And it seems you're very ambitious to be the best in your family, too. Ambition, purity…competitive? Yep, got that down. Cunning? Mmmmmmmmm…well, seems like you're a regular old Malfoy! Then this is obvious, you'd be in…
"SLYTHERIN!" bellowed the hat. Neji agreed. It had sounded like the proper place for him.
However, he kind of wanted to pull the hat back on and beg for a different house after he saw the looks his teammates were giving him.
Ino was smiling like crazy now, as was Kiba.
"So Neji…you and me are in the same House…" She laughed. Well this should be fun…I can see it now, '101 ways to annoy a stuck-up Hyuga'…
"Whaddya know!" Kiba snickered, "You're with Ino! You too will make a lovely couple." Ino smacked him across the head, all traces of her grin gone, replaced by a scowl while Neji glared. Dammit, he thought, and to think I could've gotten rid of them…
Ino turned to Neji, in a half-teasing voice saying, "Y'know I still blame you for this, bastard." Neji, sighed, Maybe it was because he was exhausted, maybe it was because he just didn't care, maybe it was because he just wanted her to shut up, but for whatever reason, the Hyuga didn't even bother to try and get her to stop or glare at her, finally giving in.
"Yeah. I know."
…Although Kiba and the hat was really OOC, I really could imagine Kiba pissing off the Sorting Hat and then freaking out when it got mad back...and then having a fear of it…:D
Actually the whole ending was OOC and badly thrown together. See, this is what happens when I write stuff high off caffeine and at three in the morning.
And I apologize in advance. I'll be gone for a week starting Saturday, so I won't update at all next week, and I probably won't be done with chapter three this week or by the week after I come back because I'm a lazy bastard and I just moved, so I'm going to have to unpack and all...and I still need to write chapter three for Misunderstood…and I'll be quiet now.
